I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES— opening on November 13th is an exhibition entitled Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States— the first major exhibition to explore this via portraiture, spanning nearly 250 years — and will be at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. through May 23rd, 2021.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay in The Guardian about how the citizens of the largest city on the Greek island of Crete decided to confront a xenophobic fascist group trying to infiltrate its schoolchildren first …. and did so believing that not only education was needed, but also united confrontation … to ensure victory.
WITH THE RETURN of Keith Olbermann to YouTube— which is a good forum for him, given that he wears out his welcome at many networks (even Al Gore’s old Current TV channel) — wotta truly innocent time it used to be, when this former Fox dolt was our main concern:
WHILE HER GOVERNMENT was in jeopardy of losing its coalition six months ago, its success vs. the coronavirus puts Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party in good shape to win re-election in New Zealand next week — even against the conservative National Party leader Judith “Crusher” Collins — and better still: the xenophobic New Zealand First Party may no longer have seats in Parliament to block her initiatives.
THURSDAY's CHILDREN are Snowball the Cat and Duo Duo the Dog— best buds in Guangzhou, China — who never leave each other's side and always cuddle up before bedtime.
OPERA NOTES— New York’s Metropolitan Opera canceled its 2020-21 season because of the pandemic, but its 2021-22 season will open with a program from the jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard entitled Fire Shut Up in My Bones— the first work by a Black composer ever presented by the Met — and five productions will also be conducted by women, the highest number ever in a single season.
THERE IS a fundraiser for the nearly eighty year-old Alice Brock — of Alice’s Restaurant fame — who is not in good health.
JEERS to the autocrat of a central Asian state (already in power twenty-eight years) who is seeking another term in Sunday’s election, allowing four stalking-horses on the ballot, rather than opposition candidates (who are in prison, in exile or in their graves after mysterious deaths). Emomali Rahmon’s title is … The Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation of Tajikistan.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Artemis the Cat— who went missing after the Camp fires in California two years ago destroyed his family’s home … and was located when he turned-up on an old neighbor’s Facebook page.
THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at a book listing five main reasons why the 1948 presidential campaign marked the end-of-an-era…. although it would not become clear, except in hindsight.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz. (One question is kinda-sorta in both).
SEPARATED at BIRTH— from the House of Gucci—
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… one of the 1960's sunshine pop groups that went through an interesting ebb-and-flow not only in popularity - but also in their music - was Spanky and Our Gang - whose sound went from vocal-jazz to folk/rock to pop ... and back again to blues and jazz. The All-Music Guide's Bruce Eder notes that they aren't as well-remembered as icons like the Mamas & Papas due to a more obscure public persona (and lesser songwriting ability) - but they had just as rich harmonies and as much influence on the sound of the mid-to-late 60's as anyone else.
Their story begins with the Peoria, Illinois native Elaine McFarlane joining the jazz-blues Jamie Lyn Trio in 1962. But this style was in a down-phase at that time, and so she joined the Chicago-based New Wine Singers (with trombonist Malcolm Hale) whose mix of folk/protest-songs and ... Dixieland jazz might seem comical today but it was definitely contemporary .. (well, for awhile).
By 1965 McFarlane had left for a Florida vacation where she met guitarist Nigel Pickering and bassist Paul "Oz" Bach at a hurricane party (waiting one out). Their jug band sound was appealing to McFarlane enough that she invited them to join her at Chicago's Mother Blues club where she was a singing waitress.
Later that year, the club's owner Curly Tait needed an opening act for out-of-town bands. Pickering and Bach did join her but - with a lack of material - they added comedy sketches to their folk songs, a common practice of the day. McFarlane's old band mate Malcolm Hale joined (this time on guitar) but what about a band name? Elaine McFarlane had been nicknamed "Spanky" as it was said she resembled (and had a similar last name as) George "Spanky" McFarland of the "Our Gang" comedy shorts ... and that was the name that stuck. With club owner Curly Tait as their manager, the group eventually got work at larger clubs and caught the crest-of-a-wave that was the 1965-1966 folk rock movement (as exemplified by The Byrds).
Eventually they caught the eye of Chicago-based Mercury Records, who signed the band in late 1966 and assigned them the talented producer Jerry Ross. Adding drummer John Seiter, they went straight into the charts as a result of their first recording session: with a song that had been rejected by both the Mamas and Papas as well as the Left Banke (of "Walk Away, Renée" fame). Sunday Will Never Be the Same was co-written by Terry Cashman (of "Talking Baseball" fame) as a ballad - but Malcolm Hale revamped the song and its intro, and it wound up at #9 on the charts during the Summer of Love.
Two other songs charted from their self-titled debut album: "Making Every Minute Count" and also Lazy Day - which seems to re-emerge each summer on the radio, doesn't it?. Their harmonies clicked, and producer Jerry Ross pulled out all of the stops in harnessing their sound.
In early 1968 bassist Oz Bach left the group, replaced by Kenny Hodges (who brought along guitarist Lefty Baker). The band also decided to replace producer Jerry Ross, desiring a more sophisticated sound. They settled upon songwriter/producers (for the Chad Mitchell Trio) Stuart Scharf and especially Bob Dorough (later to become much more famous as a jazz pianist/vocalist).
Their next album Like to Get to Know You was released in the summer of 1968. The change in producers had an effect; there were elements of blues and jazz - including a version of "Stardust" that is said to have been an inspiration for the soon-to-be-formed Manhattan Transfer. But there was the same result in hit songs: "Sunday Morning" reaching #30 and the title track reaching #17.
And there was also a cover of the Fred Neil song Everybody's Talkin' - soon to be the title song of the film Midnight Cowboy and a major hit for Harry Nilsson the following year. This sounds like an old VH-1 "Behind the Music" plot twist: but it proved to be the band's high-water mark.
In late 1968, they gathered to record their third album. Scharf and Dorough had written some sophisticated tunes and complex arrangements - but which necessitated using session musicians for much of the album. And while critically acclaimed, the album lacked an obvious hit single (except for one which had a drawback, as will be noted later) and thus suffered from poor sales. McFarlane was pregnant and considering leaving the band, and drummer John Seiter had been offered the drummer's chair in The Turtles. Finally, guitarist Malcolm Hale died in October of carbon monoxide poisoning (due to a faulty space heater).
Shaken, the band reassessed its future and decided not to continue - and thus they completed the album Without Rhyme or Reason and fulfilled their concert obligations by early 1969. Two years later, everyone was surprised to learn of the release of the album Spanky & Our Gang Live which dated back in 1967, in an early incarnation of the band.
Spanky and Our Gang briefly reunited in 1975 for a country-tinged album Change before calling it a day and some (and McFarlane especially) embarking on solo careers.
In 1999, a reunion concert was held in Florida, with Spanky McFarlane accompanied by Nigel Pickering and Kenny Hodges. Not able to participate was Oz Bach - who died of cancer a year earlier - and guitarist Lefty Baker (who died back in 1971). That same year, the band's Greatest Hits compilation album offers a good overview of the band's career.
In 2009, Spanky McFarlane and Nigel Pickering released the first Spanky and Our Gang album in thirty-four years, Back Home Americana, Vol. 1 before the death of Nigel Pickering in 2011 (at age 81) ... and Kenny Hodges in 2013 (at age 76) ... with drummer John Seiter now the last of Spanky McFarlane's surviving bandmates (for more than a year) from the '60's.
Spanky McFarlane turned age 78 this past June, and performed a show as "Spanky & Our Gang” last in 2012 - albeit with no members from the original band. So there may no longer be more from the band ... yet they made their mark.
As mentioned earlier: what might have been a hit single from (what proved to be) the original band's last album .... was one written by their producers Dorough & Scharf - Give A Damn - had trouble getting airplay for two reasons: in the summer of 1968 the word "damn" caused the song to be banned in parts of the country, and (b) its commentary of racial equality made it unpalatable in certain areas, too.
The band performed it on the Smothers Brothers show, and among the complaints that CBS received - according to Tom Smothers - one came from Richard Nixon. Interestingly, in 1969 John Lindsay used the song as part of his (successful) re-election campaign as New York City's mayor.
If you'd take the train with me uptown, through the misery of ghetto streets in morning light it's always night
Take a window seat, put down your Times You can read between the lines Just meet the faces that you meet beyond the window's pane
And it might begin to teach you how to give a damn about your fellow man And it might begin to reach you how to give a damn about your fellow man